Thursday, August 14, 2014

A stay-at-home mom, Annalyse raised her three children on California’s Monterey Peninsula. Although she and her family later moved to the Sacramento area, the beach, the quiet community, and the beauty of the California coast continue to inspire her writing.

She spent several years writing with an online community, and she loved the direct interaction with her readers. Her online participation eventually led to her volunteer at The Writers’ Collective, an online writing workshop group founded to create a supportive community for writers. With her children almost grown, Annalyse decided to take her hobby to the next level and become a published author. Ready to Love Again is her first novel with The Writer’s Coffee Shop. Annalyse Knight is a recovering craft addict. She spent many years jumping from one hobby to another until she discovered that writing satisfied all her creative cravings.

“You’ve already lost one love in your lifetime — don’t let Katie be the second.”

After a bitter divorce, Katie Rodriquez moves with her nine-year-old son, Shawn, to California to take a job at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. A fresh start is exactly what she and her son need. However, a fateful stroll on a Carmel beach turns her world upside down when she meets a handsome doctor who is struggling with his own past.
Dr. Chase O’Donnell had everything a man could ask for when a tragic accident changed his life forever. Tortured by his memories, he locks away his grief to care for his two children, refusing to face what his loss has done to him and the people he loves most.
Katie’s son is a rowdy child with a good heart, so it is a bit of a surprise when Shawn befriends the quiet and thoughtful Tony O’Donnell. Tony’s love for baseball draws Shawn into his world, and from then on, they are inseparable. It is only a matter of time before they bring their parents together again in a surprising twist of fate. However, Tony’s older sister, Liz, doesn’t like the new boy who is prone to catching critters and teasing girls. Liz isn’t very happy with the idea of her father having a new girlfriend, either. Loyal to a fault and haunted by the fear of abandonment, she lashes out and refuses to accept the new woman in her father’s life.
Katie and Chase must find the strength to rebuild their lives while juggling the demands of careers and single parenthood. When Chase’s daughter lashes out, they soon discover that the price of their romance is too high. To heal his family’s pain, they both must risk losing each other. Facing unresolved guilt and anger, will they have the courage to learn to love again?

"If you're looking for a beautiful love story with a bit of heartache, fun banter, and beautiful relationships this book is for you. Ready to Love Again is brilliantly written and has believable characters that make you fall in love with them from the very beginning." - Rhiannon Overby Goodreads Review

Review

Ready to Love Again

by Annalyse Knight

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

If you enjoy reading love stories written for adults, then Ready to Love Again is a must for you. Annalyse Knight has crafted a beautiful tale around lives that adults lead, challenges that must be faced, and a romance that is worth fighting for. This isn't your typical cutesy story about people fresh out of college falling in lust for the first time in their lives; rather, it's a serious, deeper one with all the situations that more mature couples have to deal with.

Katie escapes her controlling husband after a painful divorce when she accepts a job offer in California. Her son Shawn and his menagerie of animals and reptiles move out with her and that makes an interesting start to their new life.

While walking Shawn's dog on the beach, Buddy (the dog) runs into a man sitting by the surf who is obviously not well. They exchange a few genial words and Katie leaves, disturbed that she is attracted to someone so quickly after she ended a relationship.

It's the same problem for Chase, too. He and his children are still grieving the loss of his wife and not handling it very well. Why would he feel something for a stranger in the midst of all that?

Fate throws them together yet again, this time thanks to their sons and baseball. But while the boys are bonding, Chase' daughter Liz isn't taking the new relationship too well. After a series of tantrums and a particularly bad case of lashing out, Katie realizes that Chase needs to heal - and needs his children to heal as well. The only way to do that without adding more pressure is painful: she needs to break it off.

There are, of course, other novels that talk about situations that are just as difficult as death and divorce. When you add in the complications of blended families, stress levels can double, or even quadruple. None of those are easy and it's hats off from me to anyone who is going through this.

What makes this story unique is that it doesn't gloss over the problems. There is no magic sex wand waved over the couple and they automatically get their happy ever after. They work through the problems, get counseling, have family support, you name it. They exhaust every option available to get their relationship and families to work together.

And it goes deeper than just hot sex. Apart from attraction and passion there is compromise, understanding, and sacrifice. There isn't any giving up with the first signs of problems but the cooperation of a couple who desperately wants things to work.

Ready to Love Again isn't a book for kids, but not because it's erotica. So much deals with more mature dilemmas that it would be tough for a younger audience to fully appreciate. And if you are from that niche audience, it's refreshing to get something that isn't simple fluff.